RAVENS 4-PEAT AS CIS MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS

FINAL: ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS men’s basketball championship

Ravens 4-peat, win 10th W.P. McGee Trophy in 12 years

Courtesy of host organizing committee

OTTAWA (CIS) – The Carleton Ravens are still the best team in CIS men’s basketball team. The tournament’s second seed won their fourth straight W.P. McGee Trophy, and their record 10th in 12 years, thanks to a 79-67 gold-medal victory over top-ranked and cross-town rival Ottawa at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco championship at the Canadian Tire Centre, Sunday afternoon.

The game opened on a defensive note as the teams traded chances, but failed to get any kind of offensive run going.

It took over two minutes for Philip Scrubb, the reigning three-time CIS player of the year, to sink Carleton’s first field goal of the contest, but then the offence picked up for both teams.

Carleton led for most of the first quarter, but the Gee-Gees were never far behind and the score at the end of the frame saw the Ravens up 16-14.

The Gee-Gees offence picked up some steam to open the second quarter opening on an 8-0 run thanks to big three pointers from Johnny Berhanemeskel and Terry Thomas.

The Ravens answered with back-to-back three balls from Tyson Hinz and Scrubb.

The stanza featured fast paced, back and forth action with the Ravens leading 37-35 at halftime.

Ottawa once again came out firing on all cylinders to open the third quarter, but Carleton had an answer every time the Gee-Gees had an offensive surge.

“Ottawa U is a good team,” Hinz said. “That is by far the best team I think I’ve played in my five years here.”

The Ravens offence took over and opened up a ten-point lead thanks to a pair of free throws from Hinz, who had a tournament-high 30 points, to go with six rebounds and five assists. Playing in his final university contest, the forward from Ottawa was named Carleton player of game, received the Jack Donohue Trophy as championship MVP for the second time in his career, and was voted a tourney all-star for the fourth straight year.

“He really won this game for us. I think Tyson was the difference, he played really well and he carried our team,” said Scrubb, who scored 16 points but struggled from the floor in the final, hitting on only three of 14 field goal attempts.

Carleton led 58-49 going into the final stanza.

It was a lead the champs never gave up. Although they only extended their advantage by three points in the final quarter, the Ravens held off a potent Ottawa offence that led CIS with 96.4 points per game in the regular season.

“We’ve seen each other so many times, there’s only so much you can do,” said Ravens head coach Dave Smart, whose troops went 33-1 overall this season against CIS competition, losing only to the Gee-Gees, 78-77, in last weekend’s OUA final. “We just tried to change how we approached the defensive end in terms of intensity, in terms of staying intense for forty minutes.”

Thomas Scrubb, the CIS defensive player of the year this season and last year’s tournament MVP, was once again terrific for the Ravens. The fourth-year forward accompanied Hinz on the all-star team after he had a game-high eight rebounds and chipped in on offence with 20 points.

Berhanemeskel led the Gee-Gees with 19 points and Thomas had a team-high seven rebounds in the loss.They both earned a spot on the tournament’s dream team.

Carleton was clutch on free throws in the game, shooting 84 per cent from the line.

The victory makes Carleton the first team to win back to back championships as the host. Last year they defeated the Lakehead University Thunderwolves 92-42 in front of their hometown fans as well.

“It’s crazy, you can see how much people care about basketball here,” said Philip Scrubb. “The atmosphere was great and there were a lot of fans on both sides.”

Between the two finalists, only two players have played out their CIS eligibility. The Gee-Gees could have their entire roster return next year, while Hinz and forward Kevin Churchill are the Ravens graduating players.

“These guys are special kids. I’m so happy for Kevin and Ty,” said Smart.

Ottawa head coach James Derouin was both proud of his squad and complimentary of the winners.

“The guys played their hearts out. They should be very, very proud. Last year we set a new team standard with CIS bronze, and this year we improved to silver. It’s still not the colour we want but we’re heading in the right direction

“You can’t say enough about Carleton. They keep setting the bar higher. Hats off to them, they deserve all the accolades.”